Why do you have a job?
Why do you have a job, have you ever asked yourself that question, well here’s the answer. Someone at some point had a vision to create a business, organization, nonprofit, etc.
That someone worked towards that vision and it came to pass. It doesn’t matter what kind of business or organization it is, the one thing that is needed for growth and expansion is “people”.
Your job or position was created to fill a need to perform a specific duty or function. In 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft and today employs more than 100,000 people because of the vision these two men had to create the software.
Jobs serve a purpose, mainly to fulfill the vision for the owner of the company or organization you work for. Jobs also provide you with an income in the form of a weekly or biweekly check for the hours that you put in.
Whatever your annual income is let’s say $50,000, your position and the duty or function you perform on a daily basis brings in at least 5 times what your annual salary is. That $50k you get paid is really around $250k in revenue for the company based on what you do. They keep the $200k and give you $50k, that’s called an override and every business operates this way in order to earn a profit.
The real question is “who told you that you have to work for somebody else for the rest of your life”, The answer is society. Our parents tell us from the time that we are little kids go to school, study, get good grades, go to college, graduate and then get a good “Job”.
You probably would’ve said job even if I didn’t write it, that’s the conditioning we receive from adolescence. Not everyone has the discipline, drive, desire, and determination to become an entrepreneur, success is not easy but it sure is worth it.
The bible says in Proverbs 22:7 that the borrower is servant to the lender. As an employee you work on borrowed time because on any given day your employer can transfer you to another department, lay you off or even fire you.
I speak from experience I’ve been laid off and fired twice. They lend you a position and they can take it back or give it to someone else whenever they feel like it. You spend more time with your co-workers than you do with your own family on a monthly basis.
Where you live the kind of car you drive or don’t drive the clothes you wear the type of food you eat and the school your kids go to are all controlled by how much money you make at your job and for the majority of people it’s not enough.
I’m not knocking a job but the harsh reality in America is that most people are 2–3 paychecks away from being homeless. What would you do if you did not receive a paycheck from your job for a whole month. Unfortunately, due to the Corona 19 virus pandemic this has become a reality for many families across the United States.
It is very hard to succeed doing something that you do not like. Constant surveys have shown that most people in America do not like their jobs and feel underpaid and unappreciated. The biggest challenge with having a job is the lack of control and freedom. You have to request time off, put in for a vacation, only allowed a certain number of sick days.
Depending on what you do, you may even have to work someone else’s shift who didn’t show up to work (I speak from experience). For a period of nearly two months I worked every weekend when I was supposed to be off. I worked double shifts every week as well, all because we were short staffed.
The real frustration was not being able to attend church on Sunday or spend quality time with my wife. I call this “Inadvertent Idol Worship”, which I’ll explain later. After all of that hard work and sacrifice for a company and what did I get in return, nothing.
The end result is my biggest concern with a job. You work for a company for 20–40 years if you make it that long and then receive a pension. What exactly is a pension? A percentage of your annual salary when you were working full time. If you were struggling living on your regular salary how do you think you are going to survive with less than that.
Several years ago I had a conversation with a good friend of mine who works in the payroll department for a city hospital in Brooklyn, NY. He shared with me that an employee worked for the hospital for over 30 years was set to receive a pension of $600 a month. He said she almost came to tears when he showed her this information.
Do you still think that a job is going to give you the financial security you desire, when and if you are able to retire?
At a previous job, I was placed in a management position. After six months I inquired about my raise and bonus, I was told that I didn’t show enough initiative, which was not true. This was the justification for my pay remaining the same with no bonus.
I actually made the same hourly rate as some of my staff. The point is never allowing someone to be in control of whether or not you get a raise. Give yourself a raise and bonus as often as you like by creating a business that you control and call all the shots for yourself. If you don’t own anything, you can’t control anything.
Pay close attention to this. While I was still working at a job my union sent me a letter informing me that after all the negotiations that we are set to receive a .25 cent per hour raise. Can you believe that, now I can upgrade from a jolly rancher to a tootsie roll.
All of the strikes that I’ve seen on TV with unions, they always end up getting 3% or less. Now if inflation is 3% annually and your raise is 3% what are you actually getting, nothing.
I read a news article where a woman was fired for deleting an app that lets her boss track her movements 24/7. The smartphone app monitors her work progress while she is in the field, no problem. The challenge is that it tracks her even when her work day is done, talk about invasion of privacy.
In japan, death from a heart attack or suicide, due to overwork or work-related stress and exhaustion is known as “Karoshi”. 1 out of every 5 Japanese company’s workers regularly clock 20 hours of overtime each week. The performance of the company is put above the individual, and over-time is considered self-sacrifice.
www.psalmsforthemoderndayman.com
This has gone too far, for an employer to have this much power over employees is ridiculous. If your dream job has become a nightmare “change your dream”. What would life be like if you were able to take a vacation every other month or every month if you chose to. The key is financial freedom and control of your time.
Robert Kiyosaki author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad says “Money is Power, the more money you have the more choices you can make”. When you don’t have money the choice has been made for you already. The conversation should be where are we going to go on vacation every month rather than can we afford a vacation this year.
I will never forget a report I saw on the nightly news for the nation. A couple had worked ten years consecutively without a vacation to contribute more money to their retirement, and it worked.
They both had over 1 million dollars in each of their 401k plans. The year the husband retired he passed away, shortly after (grief stricken I presume) the wife passed away as well. All that sacrifice and they never got a chance to enjoy all the money they had saved up.
Tony Shieh former CEO of Zappos.com, States if your ultimate goal is to be an entrepreneur you are better off taking the money you would use for college and start a business. Let’s compare job vs business.
In order to earn an extra $1000 a month at your job you have to work a significant amount of overtime. You have to do that every week of every month of every year so you can make that extra $1000 a month. There is no end in sight just a constant cycle of work with no breaks, because the day you stop so does your income.
In a business if you work on increasing your skill, effectiveness and productivity this will equal to more sales. Train a bunch of people to do the exact same thing and this leads to your ultimate freedom. To the point where you don’t have to get up out of bed and go to work every day in order to earn money. This is the American Dream and how we are supposed to live if we want it bad enough.
Life is short you’re here for a flicker and then you’re gone. Some people spend more time studying what’s around them than what’s inside of them. You need to find out who you are and know that inside of you is the DNA of God who created you in his image. God made you on purpose, for a purpose.
We all have special gifts and talents that God has deposited in each of us, sadly most people never accomplish this purpose because we remain in dead end jobs that consume all of our time.
We should not work to survive we should work to thrive; survival is for animals in the wild. The reality show Survivor should not be how we live our lives. Waiting to see if you survive yet another day or get voted off the island. Your job does the same thing they can vote you off as well, it’s called being “Laid Off” or “Fired”.
Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in what I mentioned earlier “Inadvertent Idol Worship”. An Idol is anything that you put ahead of God and place more importance on, especially time. If all of your time is devoted to a job, what else do you have time for.
I’m sure when you first started that job that you didn’t expect it would require all your time, attention and focus. Inadvertently your job has now become an “Idol”. I know that we have to make sacrifices for God and our family, but never sacrifice God or your family in order to earn more money at a job.
How is your vision?
Most people put more effort and planning for a vacation than they do for their own lives. When a reporter asked Andrew Carnegie in his later years, How’s your health his response was my eyesight is not to good, but my vision is 100%. Proverbs 29:18 (a) — Where there is no vision, the people perish:
Your vision is your mind and its capacity to create. Know this, God created you to be creative.
Proverbs 23:7 (a) — For as he thinks in his heart, so is he: To make it plain Henry Ford stated “Whether You Think You Can or You Can’t, Either Way You Are Right”.
The way you think will determine your financial situation. The challenge is this, most people in this world allow their financial situation to determine the way they think and for most people the financial situation they’re in is not a good one. How do you turn all of this around, by declaring where you want to go instead of where you’re at?
Job 22:28 (NKJV) –You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways: Do you hear what this verse is saying, if you speak what you desire it will come to pass and God himself will show you the way. This is conditional of course because everything has to be done according to His will, your aspirations have to be a blessing to people not a curse.
The preceding verse lays the foundation. Job 22:27 — You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows: You must first establish a communication relationship of prayer with God. Now when you pray, He hears you. Paying your vows simply means that you will accomplish what you declared.
Where is your talent. In the book of Matthew chapter 25:14–28, Jesus tells the story of a man who before departing for a long journey, gave his servants money/ Talents (the name used for the currency of that time). He gave each servant according to his ability an amount that seemed appropriate for them to handle.
The first servant received 5 talents and by the time his master came home he turned the 5 talents into 10, 100% profit. The second servant received 2 talents and he also made a 100% profit by turning the 2 talents into 4. The last servant received the smallest amount 1 talent, and what did he do with it, he buried it.
Do you find it interesting that the Master gave each servant an amount of money that he knew they would be able to handle? I would not be surprised if the servant who was given 2 talents had a conversation with the servant who was given 5 talents, as to where he was going to invest his money.
The last servant if he had a conversation with the other 2 servants about where to invest the money, didn’t heed their advice. He acted out of fear instead of faith, which is a contradiction because fear breeds inaction instead of action.
This is symbolic of what most people do in life. They hide or bury the very thing given to them by God to get wealth. The first 2 servants took a chance and traded or invested the talent which was the money, as a result of doing this their talent which is their ability, was manifested.
Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: “Take the first step of faith you don’t have to see the whole staircase”. Let’s take a look at what happens when you bury your talent.
Matthew 25:29 — For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away: The one who has more, gets more and the one who has less gets more taken from him.
In other words: “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. Poor people try to hold on to the little that they have and end up losing more and more money every year. People are poor because they:
P-ass
O-ver
O-pportunities
R-epeatedly
They pass over opportunities that God is sending their way in order to Bless them.
A famous Billionaire said this about poor people. “They think more than a university professor and do less than a blind man, just ask them what can they do, they won’t be able to answer you. Poor people fail because of one common behavior; their whole life is about waiting”.
Let’s take a look at how rich people think.
R-eact
I-mmediately
C-hange negative
H-abits
Rich/Successful people make decisions quickly and dismiss all negative thoughts.
The key to becoming wealthy and financially independent is developing the proper mindset. What you think about, you bring about. Your mind is like a magnifying glass, if you focus on problems they get bigger, if you focus on solutions they get bigger as well and you start to see more of them. Successful people don’t ask WHAT IF? but ask WHAT NEXT?
The story of Robin Hood, he stole from the rich and gave to the poor, let’s examine that. What would poor people do who suddenly came into a large sum of money. In fact, about 70 percent of people who win a lottery or get a big windfall actually end up broke in a few years, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education.
One of the most popular shows on T.V. is “Empire”. The sad thing is most people spend more time watching “Empire” than they ever would trying to build an empire. Why does someone who spends all their time watching television, never reads any self –improvement books, attends any seminars on business or career advancement or takes any courses to better themselves, deserve riches to be handed over to them.
One of the worst decisions you can ever make in life is to follow the same path of individuals who do not possess what you desire. Ask yourself this one question. Are you anywhere near where you want to be after investing whatever amount of years on your job? If the answer is no, then you need to make an adjustment and this article is specifically for you.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking just because you have a house, car and pension that everything is ok. God wants more for you; do you want more for yourself? God didn’t create jobs, people did. God gave us a specific work to do but we haven’t gotten around to it yet because we spend all our time working at a job that we absolutely hate just to get a paycheck.
When I worked at JFK Airport in Queens, NY, we had to wait in line to get our paycheck. Sometimes the line had in excess of 20 people on it. At times I felt like I was on line at a food pantry to get groceries.
This is all done purposely of course to show employees who really is in charge and in control. To have people waiting on a line to get money they worked for and earned is nothing more than psychological warfare.
Ever see a movie where the bad guys storm a building and take hostages. The police cut the power to the building, shine huge spotlights on it and blast loud music. So it was in the first Die Hard movie with Bruce Willis. All of this is done to disrupt the focus of the bad guys in order to prevent them from achieving their sinister goal.
The formation of a line you must wait on to get your check is meant to do the same thing. Disrupt the focus of you becoming financially independent and continuously relying on an employer to sustain you. At times it was a very frustrating and dehumanizing experience to wait on that line.
www.psalmsforthemoderndayman.com
Sitting behind a desk at the front of the line was a person with the most unsavory disposition handing you a check after you signed for it. This disgusting attitude constantly flaunted because they knew you had to come to them to get your money.
From unsavory to savory. When I was around 19 or 20 years old, I went to a particular branch of HSBC bank where I had an account. Upon entering that location an elderly security guard greeted me every time with “how are you doing today sir”. My reply, I’m doing great, and yourself and he would tell me how blessed he was.
After concluding whatever transaction that was necessary for the day, just before I walked out the door the same security guard would look at me and say have a great day sir and I would say you too my friend.
That brief interaction with the security guard set the tone for my day. What may seem insignificant was rather highly intuitive on his part because that security guard treated everyone like they had a glowing neon sign on their chest that read “PLEASE MAKE ME FEEL SPECIAL”.
If only your managers, supervisors and co-workers treated everyone this way. The workplace would be a welcome environment instead of the toxic culture that is so prevalent today.
One day at church a friend of mine introduced me to the director where she worked as “MY BOSS”. The sound of that made me so uncomfortable. To hear an adult call another person her boss, it was equivalent to her saying this is my Master and I’m her Slave. That statement declared subservience to another individual.
The original meaning of boss, which came into the language in North America from the Dutch Baas, “Master”, which was taken there by Dutch settlers in the 1650s (and which also turns up in South African English, derived from Afrikaans).
It gained acceptance in the U.S. as a useful alternative to Master, which would have been the Standard English term of the period but which settlers escaping the Old World understandably disliked because of its connotations of subservience.
A popular rapper from the 90’s named Big Daddy Kane made a song named “RAW” which stands for Ready and Willing. In one verse he says that “I work like a slave to become a Master”.
This should be your goal to become a “Master” of your own life and take control, not settling for being ordinary. Two words that should not exist in your vocabulary are average and ordinary.
Unfortunately, most people in society aspire to be just that, average and ordinary. We settle for jobs that don’t expose our extraordinary talents and gifts and accept whatever meager compensation is given to us. Thirty years pass by and we look back on our lives with regret because we didn’t pursue our passion.
When motivation, passion, joy and fulfillment no longer exist at your job and you still work with excellence and proficiency. You are not functioning from a play to win attitude but rather playing just not to lose.
Fear is now the motivating factor and you perform at a high level based on fear of loss. Loss of your job = loss of income which = loss of new car which = loss of apartment or house which = loss of current lifestyle and ultimately loss of dignity.
Anyone with the slightest amount of ambition does not want to be unemployed and sustained by the government. I can’t tell you what type of business or venture to pursue because I don’t know where your heart is, but you do and you should follow it.
When 100% of your income is derived from a job, that is the most unstable and insecure position to be in financially. Your employer can either raise your income through promoting you or cut it off by firing you. To give this much control of your life to someone else is not wise.
1 Samuel 17:25–27 (NIV) in the bible tells the account of the future king David as he is about to face Goliath, the giant Philistine from Gath. What is particularly interesting is that before he faces Goliath he asks a question. “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel”.
The men standing near David answered him and said “The King will give Great Wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from paying taxes in Israel”.
David counted the cost before he accepted the challenge. The reward was, Great wealth, marry the King’s daughter and be part of the Royal Family and David nor his family had to pay taxes.
Luke 14:28–33 (NIV) — Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, “Saying this person began to build and wasn’t able to finish”. “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king.
Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
Before you make a decision, evaluate the consequences. When you accept that job, are you willing to put in 30–40 years of working for someone else, in order to get what you want in life. More importantly will that investment of your time on that job get you what you want out of life.
At one point I believed that a good job would solve all of my problems. A job has never given me what I wanted out of life, financial freedom, satisfaction or fulfillment. Not one job that I have worked in 48 years on this earth has given me any of these things.
Life for me became an exercise in futility. Pay off credit cards just to run them back up again to pay for necessities such as groceries because I didn’t have the cash. When I was single living in New Jersey, I waited on a line that was 2 blocks long for section 8 housing.
When I got about 50 feet away from the entrance they closed the door and didn’t accept any more applications. I was on Welfare, had my car repossessed and the list goes on. Challenges and hard times are a part of life; you have 3 types of giving that you can do.
1. Give up
2. Give in
3. Give back.
When you give up and give in, Faith is no longer part of the equation and God cannot work on your behalf.
When you decide to give back to God and society, make something of yourself and firmly believe it, watch out because God will make a path for you. God gets glory in your success not in your failure. What the world needs to see is more people who trust in and serve God who become successful in life.
When I recall the times that I became sick, it’s because for the most part I didn’t adapt to the environment. Its winter time, 20 degrees and snowing outside. I leave the house with no gloves no hat and a light jacket. Summer time I just finished playing basketball and I come home drenched in sweat, then go into an air conditioned room with my shirt off.
It’s no wonder that in these situations I got sick. Why, did this happen because I did not prepare myself and adapt properly to the environment. One of the biggest roadblocks to success is complacency and inability to change.
When I was a Facility Manager there were many employees who did not adapt to an ever changing environment. Bad old habits remain ingrained in their paradigm and reflected in their work.
The majority did not seek to educate themselves beyond their current level and acquiesced to a salary that ensured life financially would always be a struggle.
Once college is completed and the degree is obtained the masses land a job and become comfortable after several years. The mediocrity routine has now set in. Get up, get ready, go to work for the week and then celebrate on the weekend. Repeat this scenario every week for the next 25–40 years.
Is this what you pictured your life to be? if it isn’t, create a new picture.
Striving to achieve financial independence is a must. When you don’t have to worry about how you are going to pay your bills, you are free to focus on creating. God did not put you here so you could spend your entire life figuring out how to pay the rent every month. When you become free from financial stress, you’re at peace and in tune with who God created you to be.
www.psalmsforthemoderndayman.com
Choose to be a creator instead of living life in a container. A container stores things, clothes, food, equipment etc. Don’t store your hopes, dreams, desires and goals in a container. So many adults do this based on the job that they have because they don’t see a way out. Never set goals based on where you’re at, but set goals based on where and what you want to be.
Far better than any raise or promotion that an employer can ever give you, is the gift of Financial Independence. Salvation through Jesus guarantees that you will spend eternity with God in heaven.
Financial Independence guarantees a life of freedom and choice. Freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want, with whoever you want and however you want.
“The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: Find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it put your whole soul into it -every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have”.
John D. Rockefeller
1839–1937, Industrialist and Philanthropist
